Sunday, June 29, 2008

A friend let me borrow her camera, so I took a bunch of picture of my kids and my sister, Amy's kids. I like how some of them turned out, but I want to learn how to use adobe better and to take better pictures. Anyways, sorry the pictures are out of order, I was having problems uploading them. I love the summer. I love the kids being able to play outside and get worn out. They love swimming and going to the park. Anyways, this post is pretty random, but I wanted to get a post done because we are going to be moving this week and I won't be able to for a while. Peace.

Travis is sitting up all by himself now and is rolling all over the place. He is such a nice boy.

Trav loves being able to sit up and play in the tub now.I wish we had a 3-seater stroller. Aubree and Tanner are a tight squeeze in the back seat, but they love going for walks and to the park like this.I found a super nice powerwheels at a garage sale for $10 and the kids love it.

Tanner figured out he could reach the water dispenser on my parent's fridge. He thought he was pretty cool. He is so cute!

This morning before we started getting ready for church, Eric took this picture of the kids. They are so cute together. I can't wait to see them grow up together. Pretty soon they are all going to be close to the same size. Sorry about Aubs lack of clothing.

Monday, June 23, 2008

It seems like almost every time I blog lately, that we are having some sort of anniversary of something, and that is what I blog about. Anyways, we had a very special anniversary this last week. Two years ago, on June 17th, 2006 was when we had our little Aubree sealed to us. We went to court and did the legal stuff on the 16th and got to take her to the temple for the eternal stuff the next day. Eric's mom made Aubree the prettiest white "princess" dress for the sealing. She was even able to wear it when Tanner was sealed to us (she was a big baby). We try to celebrate the day that the kids were sealed to us as a "family day". Eric had been promising Aubs that he would take her camping, so since he had finished school last week, we decided to camp for Aubs family day. We asked Aubree why we were celebrating the day and she said it was because we were a family forever. It was so cute. Below are the pictures from our camping trip. Only Aubree and Eric stayed the night.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

PULLMAN – If there was one hug, there were a hundred. Teammate after teammate, relatives, friends, his coach – a winner over cancer himself. His wife, Jenny, of course. And a 4-month-old miracle named Aubree, maybe still more on the receiving end than the giving – or maybe, as is the case with babies, the giving is effortless.All those hugs. But Eric Nygard knew from the moment he settled into the blocks Saturday that his longest embrace was already reserved.For a garbage can. Bent over, head inside, doing the kind of business you don't want to do. We clocked it at about 20 minutes.But rarely has feeling awful felt so good.The Cougar Invitational track and field meet was something of a siege – nearly nine hours – but it all seemed to come to a halt for a minute in midafternoon for what should have been an unexceptional heat of the intermediate hurdles. Then the people who knew that just three weeks ago Nygard was wrapping up a brutal nine-week chemotherapy regimen stopped whatever it was they were doing to watch him circle the track and clatter over a set of hurdles, symbolism taken to a painful extreme.They watched with that mixture of hope and dread and admiration and affirmation we save for those we care about the most who come to find themselves in harm's way, which is pretty much the way Nygard is regarded on Washington State's track team."To see that he's able to make this kind of comeback," said fellow hurdler John Cassleman, "is just incredible."He had barely broken a minute in a race he's run in 52 seconds. It could just as well have been a world record. It was during an October training run that Nygard felt a sharp pain in his groin unlike anything he'd experienced. Then he noticed a small growth on his left testicle and booked an appointment with a urologist who confirmed the worst: cancer. A week later, he was in surgery – which was pronounced a complete success, the cancer removed. There would be follow-ups, naturally, but Nygard, a senior from Wenatchee, was free to resume training for his final season as a Cougar.When the team gathered after Christmas break, assistant coach Mark Macdonald asked Nygard to speak at the meeting – to pass on the enduring lessons of faith and fight and overcoming obstacles."I was riding the bus to campus," Nygard recalled, "and my cell phone rang. It was my doctor calling me to tell me that the cancer had come back."My speech kind of changed at the last minute."Relative to Cougars track and field, Nygard is not one of the big names, but he's one of those bedrock program guys. He did score in the Pac-10 meet last spring, but just as important he's a relay grinder and an example setter – attacking workouts and blasting through the first 200 meters of his races with a singular recklessness."He runs all out," said WSU coach Rick Sloan, who back in 1999 overcame prostate cancer, "until he's all out."So you can imagine the change in the emotional temperature of the room after addressing his teammates. "We were crushed," said Cassleman. "You could see it on people's faces. I don't know if there's another guy out there with the heart of Eric Nygard – he has this huge, lion heart. We couldn't believe he was being put through this."But sometimes those tests are saved for those best equipped to deal with them.Nygard is blessed with unwavering faith – he's a Mormon who served a mission to South Africa – and an unwavering wife in Jenny, who graduated from WSU last year. And after starting the paperwork to adopt a child back in June, they were surprised around Christmas – between the surgery and the return of the cancer – with the arrival of Aubree."About a year before we got her, we both had really strong feelings that we needed to make a big change in our lives," he said. "We felt like it was something we were supposed to do, but we didn't know why we felt so strongly."By October, it was making more sense. Even now we don't know if we can have children naturally, whether the side effects (of the chemo) will make me sterile or not."He's had other things in his corner. The specialist he was referred to, Dr. Craig Nichols, treated the world's most famous testicular cancer survivor, Lance Armstrong. His work is one of the reasons the survival percentage for patients is in the 90s.Teammates have not only supported him emotionally, they've sold wristbands emblazoned with a favorite quote – "When it's dark enough, you can see the stars."Today the Cougars throwers will hold their annual car wash, the proceeds to defray some of Nygard's massive medical expenses.And he's had a goal.Barely a few days after his first chemo treatment, Nygard did three sets over four hurdles and called it a day, spent. Last Tuesday, he ran a 300 over hurdles – "and puked, so I knew it would really hurt today."But a stricken athlete finds comfort and inspiration from returning to the normalcy of his routine, just as everyone around him tends to be inspired by the abnormalcy of the effort and desire."I didn't have anything to lose or anything to prove," he said.No, the proof Saturday was in all those hugs. Even the longest one.

I am not as good as Eric is at writing, but I just wanted to wish Eric a Happy Father's Day. I am posting mostly pictures of Eric and the kids. He is such a great dad. The kids love him so much. They get so excited when he gets home. He is so helpful and such a patient dad. Eric is amazing! He really is so good at juggling everything he has going on and still making sure the kids get all the attention that they need. Happy Father's Day!

I just wanted to add this picture to show what happened to the cheese(this is a block of cheese) that was on the counter. Aubree's teeth gave her away.

Monday, June 9, 2008

I can't believe Trav is already 6 months old! He is the sweetest and happiest boy. He is rolling a little and almost sitting up all by himself. He is eating rice cereal, fruits, and veggies. Aubs and Tan love their Travis. His smile lights up the room. We are grateful for our little Travis.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

"I am lucky to be in love with my best friend." Jason MrazFive years ago today, I married my best friend. It is crazy how time flies. The first half seemed to move slowly, but the last 2 and a half are a blur. We met in September of '02 and were engaged in January and married that June. I'm so grateful that I went to Big Bend and went to a Single's Ward dance there. I'm forever grateful that Eric asked me to dance and then asked me for my number. Aubree has been loving watching our wedding video over and over. It is fun to see how much we and our families have grown up. Aubree keeps saying that she wants to get married to Tanner. Eric is the best example to me. He makes me want to be a better person. He is the best husband and the best dad. The kids can't get enough of their dad. I really can't wait to see how the next 5 years will turn out. Hopefully we will have another 3 kids!;)

Our Life!

We were married in June 2003 and are currently living in Loma Linda, CA.Eric is doing a Dental Anesthesia Residency.We have seven beautiful children: Aubree 9, Tanner 8, Travis 7, Jared 4, Brady 3, Matthew 1 and our Angel Andrew who died of SIDS in December 2010.Our life has been a bit of a roller coaster, but we are learning to hold on tight and be thankful for the ride.We are happy, and we are so blessed!